Fabricated roofing element



March 6, 1934. L, KIRSCHBRAUN 1,950,032

FABRI CATED ROOFINGy ELEMENT Original Filed July 20, 1929 Mar. 6 1934 Lester lirschbraun, Leenia, N. J., assigner, by

mesne assignments, te rThe Patent and Licensing Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation ef Massachusetts Application July 2d, i929, Serial No. 379,635 Renewed April 13, i933 9 (Claims.

is then surfaced with grit, crushed slate, tile orI brick, or other equivalent comminuted material.

The invention relates more particularly to roofing elements which have been cut from a sheet of roong material prepared as described, the butt edges of the cut out elements having been subsequently treated with an aqueous emulsion of low melting point asphalt which may be applied in the form of a heavy creamy liquid from which the aqueous vehicle is dried out, leaving a mixture of asphalt with a dispersing agent as a coating also covering the butt edges of the unit. l-Ieretofore it has been customary to put on the market strip shingles or roong elements of various shapes as they are cut from sheets of roofing material which have been manufactured as previously described. The cut edges, however, where exposed to the weather, are found to afford access of moisture to the interior of the element through the cut ends of the bers at the exposed edges. This permits the absorption of considerable moisture in wet weather and a similar drying out of moisture and residual volatile constituents of the impregnated compound from the elements in dry Weather. These eects greatly shorten the life of the element and tend to cause curling of the edges which makes a roof composed of such elements unsightly and less waterproof.

According to the present invention, a roong element is provided which is protected on its butt edge from access to and escape of the moisture and volatile constituents of the saturant. A roofing element embodying the present invention furthermore possessses a combination of advantageous features which cooperate in rendering a roof made of such elements exceptionally waterproof.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the description thereof which follows and to the drawing, of which,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a typical roofing element which may embody' the invention.

(Gl. till-63) Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the butt portion of such an element.

An element embodying the invention, such. as is illustrated on the drawing, may comprise a felt base 10 which may be saturated in the cuse0 tomary manner with asphalt. For this purpose an asphalt having a relatively low melting point is customarily employed, since it is desirable that the felt be thoroughly impregnated with the saturant. saturant have a relatively high degree of fluidity. Since fluidity depends on the nature of the particular asphalt employed and the temperature to which it is heated, and since it is unde- To this end it is necessary that the sirable to expose the felt to an unduly high temperature for too long a period, it is customary to employ an asphalt having a suiiiciently low melting point to permit its being heated to a proper degree of fluidity without the employment of a temperature so high as to char or and rubber-like consistency. This can be readily g5 applied in a molten state to the surface of the sheet, since the relatively thin layer quickly drops in temperature without injury to the felt iibers. While this coating is still sticky, suitable granulated surfacing material is showered thereon, the

granules being partially embedded in the sticky asphalt and thus being held in place to form a protective surface layer l2. On the reverse face of the sheet a thin protective coating i3 of blown asphalt may be applied, but this is frequently omitted. The sheet thus formed is then cut up into roong elements of desired shape and size. If such elements are applied to a roof without further treatment, the cut edges which are exposed to the weather are vulnerable points which l may cause the element to deteriorate so as to shorten its life materially. In order to overcome this defect, the butt edges which are to be exposed to the weather may be coated and sealed with a protective layer of waterproofing material. 305

According to the present invention, I employ for this purpose an aqueous emulsion of asphalt, such, for example, as emulsions which are known in the art as K-B. Such an emulsion may cornprise a dispersion of asphalt of about F. u@

melting point with a dispersing agent such as clay, bentonite, or other colloidal mineral powder, and can be applied in any desired consistency. In applying an emulsion to coat the butt edges of roofing elements, it is found that a somewhat heavy creamy consistency is preferable since in this condition 4the emulsion readily forms a reasonably thick coating 14 which dries out in a short space of time and thus becomes permanently fixed. It is a characteristic of the dry film resulting from the removal of water from this type of emulsion that it will not run under the action of solar heat of a degree which would cause the asphalt prior to dispersion to flow. This characteristic is due to the presence of the colloidal dispersing agent and to the peculiar structure which it imparts to the film. Although such a mixture of asphalt with its dspersing agent Will not run under solar heat, the asphalt within the mixture when of sufliciently low melting point, as,

for example, 130 to 180 F., fuses sufficiently to adhere to any object brought in contact therewith. When a roofing element has its edges coated thickly with dry asphalt emulsion containing a colloidal mineral powder as a dispersing agent, this edge coating will not run under the action of solar heat, but it will ordinarily become firmly adherent to the roofing elements of the course next below, due to the adhesive properties of the asphaltic constituent of the edge coating.

A roofing element, therefore. if made in accordance with the present invention is provided with a face coating of blown asphalt which is particularly desirable as a face coating by reason of its tough and rubber-like qualities 'and its relatively high melting point. Combined with this face coating, which is of a type of asphalt affording the maximum protection against weather, is the edge coating of low melting point asphalt which contains sufficient colloidal mineral powder of the character indicated to prevent running under the action of solar heat, but which contains an asphalt constituent of relatively low melting point to promote adhesion of the butt edges of the roofing element with the elements of the course next below on a roof. This property of the roong element results in the intersealing of the roong elements and thus prevents lifting or curling of the butt portions of the roofing element under the action of wind, so that there is no opportunity for rain to be driven up under the butt portions nor for the corners of the butt portions to curl upwardly.

Where, as in Figure 1, the roofing element is formed with tabs separated by slots or recesses, the edge-coating may be extended not only over the butt edges at the bottom of the elements, but also over the edges defining the cut-outs or recesses.' In this way each course of elements on a roof may be sealed to the course below along a substantially continuous line which follows the lower outline of the elements composing the course.

I claim:

1. A fabricated roofing element having its butt portion face-coated with blown asphalt and edge coated with dried aqueous emulsion of low-melting point asphalt with a dispersing agent.

2. A fabricated roofing element having a face coating of asphalt having a melting point of approximately 220 F., and a butt edge coating of dried emulsion of low melting point asphalt with a dispersing agent.

3. A fabricated roofing element having a butt edge coating of low melting point asphalt mixed with suilicient colloidal powder to prevent running when heated above the melting point of the asphalt.

4. A fabricated roofing element having a face coating of blown asphalt and a butt edge coating of low melting point asphalt mixed with a c01- loidal powder.

5. A fabricated roofing element having a face coating of asphalt having a melting point of approximately 220 F. and a butt edge coating of dried emulsion of asphalt having a melting point of 130 to 180 F. with a mineral dispersing agent.

6. A fabricated roofing element having its butt portion face-coated with blown asphalt and edgecoated with a film of low melting point asphalt.

'7. A fabricated roofing element having its butt portion face-coated'with blown asphalt and edgecoated with asphalt of a character different from that of the face coating.

8. A fabricated roofing element having its butt portion face-coated with blown asphalt and edgecoated with a film of asphalt of a lower melting point t-han that of the face coating asphalt.

9. A fabricated roofing element having its butt portion face-coated with blown asphalt and edgecoated with an asphaltic film of such character as toV be sticky but non-flowing under the action of solai' heat.

LESTER KIRSCHBRAUN. 

